The 4-3 majority of liberal Colorado Supreme Court justices who ruled Monday night that former President Donald Trump cannot appear on the 2024 presidential ballot in the state attended Ivy League colleges, while those in dissent attended state law schools.
The four Democratic-appointed justices who ruled to nix Trump from the primary ballot included three Ivy League graduates, showing a stark divide between the legal mindsets of those who were educated at elite institutions compared to the three justices who said they would not remove the Republican front-runner from the state's ballot.
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For the first time in history, a state court ruled that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies insurrectionists from running for office, has been used to prevent a presidential candidate from appearing on a state ballot. The decision has been stayed until Jan. 4 to give Trump's attorneys time to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Justices Richard L. Gabriel, Melissa Hart, Monica Marquez, and William W. Hood III said that Trump "did not merely incite the insurrection," but that his actions on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol "constituted overt, voluntary, and direct participation in the insurrection."
Three justices who said they wouldn't bar Trump from the ballot, Carlos Samour, Maria Berkenkotter, and Chief Justice Brian Boatright, all attended Sturm College of Law in Denver.
While the majority's ruling is stayed pending appeal, it makes clear that Jan. 6 was an "insurrection," that Trump "engaged in" it, that his speech was "not protected by the First Amendment," and that Colorado courts can enforce his ban from ballots without any action from Congress.
Below is the list of justices who came to that conclusion.
Monica Marquez
Justice Monica Marquez is the first Latina and openly LGBT person to serve on the Colorado Supreme Court, according to her biography on the Colorado Supreme Court's webpage.
Marquez obtained a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and earned her law degree from Yale. She also worked as an assistant solicitor general and as assistant attorney general in both the Public Officials Unit and Criminal Appellate Section before she was appointed to the state's high court in 2010.
The justice is also a member of the Bench Dream Team, which is a group of judges in the Colorado judicial system that promotes diversity and inclusion.
Richard L. Gabriel
Justice Richard Gabriel is from Brooklyn, New York, and obtained a bachelor of arts degree in American studies from Yale University. He went on to earn his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
He was appointed to the state Supreme Court in June 2015 after a career in commercial and intellectual property law. He has been hailed for his "strong" performance in oral arguments and for "being courteous and treating parties equally," according to a 2018 performance review.
He was accused in 2021 by a female law clerk of sexual harassment, but an external organization that reviewed the matter found that the claims were unfounded.
Melissa Hart
Justice Melissa Hart attended Harvard-Radcliffe for her undergraduate degree, then returned to Harvard for her law studies. She was appointed to the high court in December 2017 and serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Law School and the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law.
Hart has been accused of discrimination in a previous lawsuit filed by a black job applicant seeking work as a rules attorney, according to the Denver Post. However, a federal judge tossed out the case after finding no evidence of discrimination.
A 2020 performance evaluation found that Hart "treats parties equally, regardless of race, sex, or economic status."
William W. Hood III
Justice William W. Hood III was sworn in as a Supreme Court member in January 2014 after working as a litigation partner and prosecutor in the state’s 18th Judicial District.
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Hood is also the only member of the court who voted to disqualify Trump who did not attend an Ivy League school, as he attended the University of Virginia School of Law and received honors in international relations from Syracuse University.
The justice also received good marks in a 2016 performance evaluation, which cited "numerous attorneys" who found that he was "intelligent, fair and prepared for oral argument."